The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1887-11-17

"And pray, friend. is that your we'd
"s6e whom ! love will look to the
heart rather than to the raiment, !"
answered he. as unabashed and grave
~ as before; and the Princess felt re-
buked and bit her sweet lips.
"Yet you bring no gift in your
hands, she said. "How dare you ask
ought of me?"
He looked at her and smiled. and
she saw that his smile was sweet.
Lady, claim but gift for gift.
bring you my heart. Give me there
fore yours"
"Yet you do not kneel In the ask
ing" she said. How may ! listen
to such q prayer"
Lady" he answered-and he look
ed tall and noble standing upright
alone, amid the sea of bowed heads
around-"I do not kneel, because
come neither to beg nor to pray, but
to demand my right"
Chow dare you'll" cried the princess,
frightened at language SO strangely
unsoftened to meet her delicate royal
ears. Chow dare your"
"Love dares all, or is no love-" an.
swered he, and smiled still.
IL have sworn that will wed none
save him, who is in all my SUPERIOR"
said the princess, and looked at him
curiously. ''Do you call yourself my
superior? Are you so vain?" And
she drew up her exquisite head, and
laughed a low, gurgling laugh.
"No," he answered. "For love is
humble; yet us humility is superior to
vanity, you are inferior to me in so
far as you claim superiority"
Gam l vain, them" asked the prin.
cess in grieved surprise.
"No," Numbered the crowd of suit
ors be hind, mol No! MOI To the
death with him who affirms it! No!
No! A thousand times mol"
eyes," said the young man who
stood before her; and though he spoke
so low. she heard him above all the
rest, ard hung her lovely head.
cat least" she said, chow can you
vie with me in birth? l am princess
and sit upon a throne; and you"
"Your throne is senseless marble
and cold, dead stone" said he land
mine is woman's heart"
"You are poor" said she, "and l
am rich"
"Nay, it is you who are poor" he
replied, "since earth's sorest poverty
is the having only self to love; and l
am rich, for loving is wealth, and l
have loved long and WE'LL"
"But am wise and learned" said
she. IL have studied much and pro-
foundly. Can you know more than
II"
eyes," answered he; "for I have
learned that am ignorant and earth's
highest wisdom can teach no more"
"But am beautiful" she said, with
q blush that spread over her face
like the sunsetg glow over a lily. "And
you''-
"a beauty that sees but self is
blind" he answered, land blindness
ia a deformity. 1t is l therefore, who
am beautiful, for you SO fill my heart
that wherever am, you are present"
"They say / am good" stammered
the little princess as a final plea. And
tears stood in her wonderful eyes.
The young man came nearer and
6IllIlcO 1S3lI1s t1lIO Ill LIS SIJlIO WOkO Ohty
pity and tenderness and love. "Yet
by your own showing you are selfish
and vain and weak" he said softly.
'.Andyou?" asked the princess, tt en-
ulously, yet smiling up at him as she
spoke, "are you so much better than
eyes," he said, "for am Love him.
self, and what is there upon earth
that is truer and stronger and purer
and better than Lover"
And the little princess. looking at
him, suddenly saw great glory flash
out in his face, and his quaint garb
fell off and he stood before her clad in
robes of scarlet and gold, and king
~ sceptre was in his hand, and he
had wings, such as we dream angels
have, and his name, "Love," stood
like a jeweled crown above his fore
head. And the princess hid her face
in her hands and sobbed for very
shame.
81 have found Love at last" she
said. cit is he for whom have wait
ed so long, and searched so far and
wide. Only Love dared claim me.
Only love knew how to win me. Only
Love could teach me to love again."
And then Love bent over her, and
folded her in his close, strong arms,
and flew away with her right up into
the far of, wonderful seventh heaven,
where none but those who know Love
have ever been. And the suitors staid
behind with their mittens and their
cigars. and their promises that none
should ever know their names, and
were sulky, and pretended to outsid-
ers that "they never could tell what it
princess saw in that fellow!" Only
luckily the worlds echoes cannot
reach so far as up to the seventh
heaven, and the little princess never
heard what they said.
But,my friends, this is only fairy
story, and OF course could never hap.
pen In real life, you know.